Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant - Juridical Actions of Citizens Against Restarting The Nuclear Reactors

Juridical Actions of Citizens Against Restarting The Nuclear Reactors

On 8 November 2011 a group of 40 citizens of Otsu prefecture Kyodo started a law suit at the Otsu District Court against Japan Atomic Power Company. They asked for a provisional court order to delay the restart of the two reactors at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Tsuruga. The plaintiffs argued that:

• Lake Biwa, could be contaminated if a nuclear accident occurs at the plant
• The whole region of Kansai is dependent on this biggest lake of Japan because it is the source of drinking water for the whole region
• An accident would endanger the health of all residents
• The Tsuruga plant is built on a site with a fault below it, and a severe accident could occur during an earthquake
• The No. 1 reactor has been more than 40 years in service since it was first operational in 1970, and the Tsuruga plant was insufficiently protected against a tsunami.
• The ongoing regular checks were done under the government's safety and technological standards, and the nuclear crisis in Fukushima had proven that those regulations were insufficient.
• The reactors should remain shut down until the cause of the disaster in Fukushima has been fully investigated
• Regular checks should be performed under the new safety standards.

The operator of the plant did not want to make any comment to the press. At that time the two reactors of the plant were shut down for regular checkups. But the four-month inspection of the No. 2 reactor could be completed in December, and the checkup of reactor 1 could be completed in March 2012.